Summer hasn’t officially arrived in Baltimore County, but we got a taste of the heat this past week. Fortunately the recent gate changes and increased flows from Prettyboy Dam have dropped water temperatures 8-10 degrees. In the upper miles the water temperature is a chilly 52 degrees, although a few miles downriver may see temps reach 55 degrees. Yesterday the water was well below 60 degrees at Montkon, and was only 62 degrees as far down as Glencoe Rd. The Gunpowder has miles of fishable water, flows in the 82 CFs range and sections offering a variety of water holding wild trout. Recent trips and days fishing in the upper sections yielded trout on caddis and BWOs, while nymphing is always a great trout catching technique. Terrestrials are starting to get the attention of trout along the shoreline. Earlier this week I noticed a lot of brown trout were holding just off the banks, inches under the surface. These browns are looking for a meal to fall off nearby branches, and can be fooled with an ant, flying ant or beetle pattern. In the latest video post I shot some footage of a typical brown caught on a caddis, and one brown I filmed hovering under the surface. The rest of the video includes some footage Max and I shot yesterday while floating the Gunpowder. We nymphed some deep riffles, but mainly threw streamers and caught wild browns and holdover rainbows. We didn’t land any large trout, but the action was great early in the day. We had cool air coming off the river, nice weather and the added bonus of never seeing another angler, boater or tuber all day.

The flows on the Gunpowder are at great levels at 91 Cfs, and a gate change yesterday released more cold water. A slight increase in flow from the bottom is negating the warm spillover, so temps are down in the 56-58 degree range in the upper miles of river. Yesterday I wet a line down at Sparks Rd and the water temp was 65 degrees at 3 pm. The Gunpowder has over fourteen miles of fishable water, and wild browns looking for a meal. In the different sections of river anglers will encounter different hatches. In the upper sections the sulphurs are still hanging on, but the action is very late in the evening. A few anglers mentioned seeing an emergence midday on Thursday, and trout eating the duns. Tricos are starting to appear in small clouds by 12 pm, but not in the big numbers we will see later in the Summer. Blue wing olives can be seen even on bright days, but the cloudy, rainy days are the best for this hatch. In the middle-lower sections of river there are stonefly shucks on the rocks and light cahills hatching. Terrestrials are already catching fish, and flying ants are working under overhanging branches. Streamers are also a great way to search for larger trout, especially in the lower sections of the river. In the latest video post I filmed a light cahill, BWO spinner and a sulphur spinner with egg sack attached. I also included a minute of rising trout that can be found along miles of river. The rising trout may not be big, but for dry fly enthusiasts there are plenty of fish working the surface during the day.

I’ve obviously spent a good deal of time on the warm water scene from my recent posts and videos. A few anglers have sent in their own reports, or stopped by to let us know they have had success fishing for these big fish. Other anglers have had a hard time getting these finicky fish to eat a fly. There is no secret fly, and no sure fire approach to catching carp. On an average day I will make dozens and dozens of casts to fish that seem completely and totally uninterested in eating a fly. Varying the retrieve, pattern size and color doesn’t seem to help when dealing with fish that are clearly not hungry. Just when I’m ready to give up I find one fish that acts a little different than the rest. I’ve learned to disregard, or not bother casting to fish that don’t exhibit the “I’m looking for a meal” body language. In the latest video post I tried working some tailing fish on a muddy flat, but left for clearer water after an hour. In the second spot I cast to a dozen different carp that had no interest in my fly. The next fish cruising along the shoreline noticed my fly the moment it hit the water, and followed it to the bottom. The carp ate the fly and put up a great fight. I think this might be the biggest one I’ve landed this year, although there are many fish much larger in our local waters.

I’ve enjoyed the change of pace exploring warmer water in search of carp and other fish. The really bright, hot days that most trout anglers lament over are perfect for this type of fishing. It shouldn’t be long before these big fish will be taking bugs, seed pods and berries off the surface. “Clooping” is the term for carp feeding on the surface, and I’ve seen them do this often. If rising trout seem difficult to catch….try to get one of these brutes to eat a dry. I haven’t tried dry flies much, but know a few anglers who catch them on hoppers, beetles and other patterns. Larger nymphs imitating damselflies or dragonflies are good choices to present to fish in shallow water. A slightly larger size 8 olive zonker pattern tied with medium weight dumbbell eyes is one of my go-to patterns. I let the fly dive to the bottom 8-10 inches in front of a fish, and wait. I watch waterboatmen and other insects diving into the mud, which may explain why carp suddenly decide to start rooting around on the bottom. Recently I used this tactic where I dropped the fly in front of a fish, and let it sink to the bottom. No stripping, no twitching and the carp decided to dive down to inspect the fly. A flash of the white mouth, one hard strip set and the carp was hooked. This carp had numerous options to wrap me up, but I tightened up the drag and put on a lot of pressure. The fun is usually the long distance runs into the backing, but putting the brakes on a big fish can be exciting. In the latest video I put a good bend in the rod on this heavy carp.

Fly anglers searching for good carp fishing don’t need to look too far to find a pond, river or reservoir where these fish are abundant. Carp are proving for many anglers to be unexpectedly challenging, although for the anglers that “crack the code,” fishing for these big fish becomes addictive. Anglers who try carp fishing in a variety of waters will discover that carp will chase and eat flies, take flies off the surface, and even tail in shallow water. The carp above followed the fly in clear water, watched it sink to the bottom, and refused it. A small twitch changed the fish’s demeanor and it pounced on a simple dumbbell eye fox fur pattern. This is one area I like to fish that has tight cover, clear water and fish that will swim three feet to eat a fly. Another spot has wide open spaces for casting, sandy bottom and carp that will even rise to the surface, yet they are ultra selective. My favorite place is a secluded, muddy pond loaded with the biggest carp I’ve seen locally. The interesting thing about this pond is the carp are always actively tailing. Carp “mudding” on the bottom are not uncommon, but tailing carp offer a clear sign of where a fish is actively feeding. Anglers need a certain degree of visibility to know where to present a fly to a carp, and there is no better cue than a big tail waving around on the surface. Recently I waded out into the pond with my camera to film what anglers would more likely expect to see on a redfish or bonefishing trip. I’d get into position, wait for a tail to tell me where to cast, and drop the fly in front of the fish. There was zero margin for error, too far and the fish doesn’t see the fly in the muddy water. If the cast lands too close, or if the carp feels the line or fly stripped against its body, the fish spooks. If the cast was good, I’d give a long, slow strip to draw the carp’s attention and watch the tail for a reaction. A flip of the tail and subsequent boil was a clear indication the carp picked up the fly. In two hours I hooked six fish, all of which went ballistic once hooked and completely thwarted my efforts to land them. Two of the fish actually jumped, breaking my line and the others wrapped me up in debris. The majority of these fish were well over twelve pounds, so long battles and getting into the backing was common. It was easy to tell the big carp from the smaller ones, just by the size of the tail. Nearly halfway into the video I zoom in on a huge tail belonging to a carp I dubbed “The Manatee” for obvious reasons. In the latest video I filmed three minutes of tailing carp in a small pond in Maryland.

On my recent trip to the Savage, I filmed quite a bit of footage on the river that I couldn’t fit into the last video post. I also hiked up a brookie stream and took some pictures that didn’t make it into the recent report. As the picture above illustrates, this drop on a small stream was a decent waterfall at the higher levels I encountered. I planned to return later in the week to this stream, but I never hiked in again since levels dropped quickly on the Savage. The number and size of brookies I was catching on the Savage was one of the reasons I stayed there all week. I caught a few small brook trout, but most were eight inches and larger. The Savage was still flowing very high the first day, yet I spotted an eleven inch brookie working the surface. This trout was aggressively feeding, although the brookie appeared very selective. I never made a cast over the fish, yet the trout’s body language exuded an ultra finicky nature. The trout was frequently scanning the surface left and right, often rising a foot before refusing debris, or unwanted insects. The latest video post features a nice size native brook trout I left feeding in the crystal clear water of the Savage River in Western Maryland.

The Savage River was flowing in the 500-600 CFs range when I hit the road last week for four days of fishing. The higher flows may not be considered ideal by most anglers, but there are still some options, even at these levels. The region was saturated from recent rains and all of the smaller streams and upper Savage were flowing extremely high on Monday. The roar of the lower Savage was deafening, although the water was clear and fishable in a few sections. The water temps rose from the high forties to the low fifties with the spillover from the rain. I caught my first brown on a streamer in the first ten minutes, and landed a few more before setting up for the night at the campground. On Tuesday the flows came down into the 400-300 Cfs range and I switched from streamers to nymphs, catching a few fish. I switched to dries at Noon and quickly found fish looking up to the surface for a meal. I saw yellow sallies, midges, blue quills, march browns, blue wing olives, caddis and a few other mayflies hatching during the week. I mainly saw midge hatches and trout sipping them in the slow water, but I brought fish to the surface on a size 12 march brown/olive pattern. The challenge was dropping dry flies into the slow spots in the high flows, and getting zero drag during the short drifts. All the slow water along the edges, and the calm pockets behind or in front of rocks held trout. High sticking a long leader and dapping the dries was an easier technique than trying to sling heavy nymph rigs and streamers in the high water. By Wednesday the flows came down and I managed to raise two dozen fish, landing half of those fish. On Thursday the flow dropped into the upper 200s, and I fished dries all morning and switched to nymphs in the afternoon. The majority of browns I landed this week were between 6-14 inches, and brookies between 6-11 inches. In the higher flows I was able to sight fish to some larger browns between 15-19 inches in the slack water on the edge of the river. These wary browns only stayed put for a cast or two, before refusing and spooking or running off with my fly. The latest video post features the high water when I first arrived, a few insects I filmed, and some of the trout I caught.

Fly anglers in Maryland are experiencing some great trout fishing on waters both big and small. The sulphur hatch on the Gunpowder and many of the freestone streams in the state provide great fishing in the evening. Caddis and midges are a good bet for dry fly anglers fishing in the morning or even midday on sunny blue bird days. Blue wing olives are hatching in good numbers on cloudy days, and get the fish sipping naturals in the flat water. Nymphing is producing a lot of fish, and larger browns for anglers bottom bouncing shallow riffles and deep pools. Caddis or midge pupa paired with mayfly nymph imitations are consistently producing trout, and the shop has a large selection of effective patterns. For anglers looking for the big trout, consider fishing a baitfish or crayfish pattern like the one pictured above. I fished this crayfish pattern on a freestone stream and enticed some large trout into chasing the pattern, but I only landed browns in the 10-12 inch range. On a different day I fished the Gunpowder and lost a really nice brown using a shop caddis pupa pattern. I was fishing a caddis/sulphur nymph tandem in a choppy riffle while the adult caddis hatched out of the water. I set the hook on a strong fish and tried to keep it from running me into any debris. I directed the trout into slower water and got a good look just as the fish came unbuttoned. The brown had big jaws and was between 17-18 inches, so it looks like there are some bigger fish feeding subsurface during these hatches. The latest video features a mix of water and fish from small water to the Gunpowder River.